How useful is the Rhenish Triangle for France

Had they defeated Prussia and the South German States, France likely would have annexed the southern Triangle of the Rhineland (ergo the Rhineland south of the Moselle, including the Saarland).

How beneficial for France would these lands have been? It's a somewhat geographically secure border I suppose, and the Saarland provides a lot of coal for French industry, but the French would also have perhaps a million Germans under their rule.


Could the Saar-Lorraine region have become the French Ruhr? All that coal and iron in one concentrated place could be good for France.
 
It would have definitely been a boost for the French economy. As for language, at this time (1870) there are still large linguistic minorities across the country, including the Alsatians. ITTL the Second Empire will survive and perhaps it will be less assimilationist in its language policy than the Third Republic was OTL, although I suspect it would not be too different.
 
Unlikely for security reasons. Investors are going to be hesitent to dump large quantities of capital into immobile assets in a region liable to get burnt over the event of yet another round of wars with the Germanies (which I assume many will consider an inevitability). However, given you have more of a security buffer for Alsase and the industrial regions of eastern France proper I could see an industrial boom there, feeding off mineral extraction from the Rhine region
 
Unlikely for security reasons. Investors are going to be hesitent to dump large quantities of capital into immobile assets in a region liable to get burnt over the event of yet another round of wars with the Germanies (which I assume many will consider an inevitability).

I think that's looking through the lens of OTL. ITTL there is no unified Germany. France has punished Prussia for its provocation over the Ems dispatch and reinforced its reputation as the primary military power in Western Europe. Investors are probably not going to worry about a future Prussian attack.
 
I think that's looking through the lens of OTL. ITTL there is no unified Germany. France has punished Prussia for its provocation over the Ems dispatch and reinforced its reputation as the primary military power in Western Europe. Investors are probably not going to worry about a future Prussian attack.

Yah... fat chance of Prussian power being realistically shattered to the point they aren't still a looming threat. Pangerman sentiment is as widespread as ever, the NGF still exists,South German states are still under strong popular pressure to align northward and France is now the European BadBoy in terms of threats to the balance power (particularly since Bismark has still leaked the documents relating to French ambitions I the Low Counteries... which Britain will be unhappy with and will want to see Prussia fixed up as a check on French power). There's a giant powder keg between the Rhine and Channel now and everybody knows it.
 
Yah... fat chance of Prussian power being realistically shattered to the point they aren't still a looming threat. Pangerman sentiment is as widespread as ever, the NGF still exists,South German states are still under strong popular pressure to align northward and France is now the European BadBoy in terms of threats to the balance power (particularly since Bismark has still leaked the documents relating to French ambitions I the Low Counteries... which Britain will be unhappy with and will want to see Prussia fixed up as a check on French power). There's a giant powder keg between the Rhine and Channel now and everybody knows it.

In fact could one of the butterflies from this be the fall of Bismarck? He's had an (uncharacteristic) setback and lost territory, and everyone will realise, later if not immediately, that he was responsible for engineering the war. But he could be replaced byy someone more flag-wavingly nationalistic.
 
In fact could one of the butterflies from this be the fall of Bismarck? He's had an (uncharacteristic) setback and lost territory, and everyone will realise, later if not immediately, that he was responsible for engineering the war. But he could be replaced byy someone more flag-wavingly nationalistic.

I would personally conclude Bismark in 70' has the political capital to survive the lose, especoially since he really is the poster child for German Nationalism and the lynchpin on which the "Court"/Conservative faction within Prussia sit by aligning the Liberal/Industrial elites with Junker interests. Theres no good candidate for King Wilhelm to replace him who'd work in the monarchy's interest without being too blatantly a partisan
 
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